Friday, April 1, 2016

Pachacamac: The City of Zarahemla – Part IV

Continuing from the previous
three posts on Zarahemla as Pachacamac and its coastal location when Coriantumr
attacked it and then headed up the center of the land toward Bountiful.Based on the previous posts, we
can see that Pachacamac,
the city of Zarahemla, most likely would have been built by the Nephites, not
the Mulekites, not only because of the above, but it would have been unlikely
to have found stone masons among the servants who would have spirited Mulek out
of the Palace in Jerusalem, and while certainly they would have brought tents
with them, and other supplies and provisions, whatever building they might have
attempted would probably not have been stone or rock until after they came into
contact with the Nephites, who seem to have had much capability in that type of
construction.In addition, we find that a lot of the stonework at
Pachacamac is fairly representative of the earlier stonework found at
Sacsahuaman.We can also see
that there would have been plenty of time for Mosiah I and King Benjamin to
have built a city without it being mentioned since that particular period is
almost bereft of any detail at all, with Amaleki giving the records to king
Benjamin “who put them with the other plates” (Words of Mormon 1:10), not to
be written on more, and the next person recording such detail was Alma, perhaps 50 years later or more.Upon arriving in the valley, the Incas adapted the
pre-existing structures of Pachacamac for their own administrative needs,
desecrating the city and losing the oracle at the center. The Ichma and Chancay people, along with
smaller cultures (tribes) were absorbed into the Inca Empire.The vast and important walled site flourished for about 1500
years until the Spanish arrived. The Temple alone is 100,000 square feet in
size, but unfortunately, archaeologists are limited in their knowledge of this
site because the temple and many other pyramids at Pachacamac have been
irreversibly damaged by looting and coastal weather.

The Creator
God, Pachacamac, called Wiracocha by some cultures, Viracocha by the Inka, Apu
Qun Tiqsi Wiraqutra , Con-Tici, and Inti by other cultures—throughout the
Andean area, all ancient cultures believed in one supreme god who created the
Earth, Heavens, Man and all things—His name was Pachacamac and pilgrimages from
all over the Andean area brought people from far and wide to visit this sacred
city bearing his nameAs can be seen from
these three posts in this series of Pachacamac, that this site mirrors much of
what we know about Zarahemla. It should also be noted that the description of
Zarahemla shows that it was in the “heart of their lands” (Helaman 1:18), and
that the Nephites “had not kept sufficient guards in the land of Zarahemla, for
they had supposed that the Lamanites durst not come into the heart of their
lands to attack that great city Zarahemla” (Helaman 1:18). Having defeated the
city, Coriantumr found himself in possession of the strongest hold in all the
land, his heart took courage insomuch that he was about to go forth against all
the land” (Helaman 1:22).When we speak of “the
heart of their lands,” we need to note that the word “heart” in the 1828 American Dictionary of the English
Language, lists “heart” as the inner part, interior, the heart of a
country, the chief part, the vital part, none of which definitions indicate the
“middle” or the “center” placement of the city of Zarahemla. Only that it was
the heart of the land.When the Lamanite king,
Tubaloth, put the Nephite defector, Coriantumr, in charge of his army, he
believed that the former descendant of Zarahemla, being a mighty man, could
stand against the Nephites because of his strength and great wisdom (Helaman
1:15-16). His great wisdom, of course, was in his knowing all about the Nephites, having been one himself, and knowing of their defenses, placement of forts, guards, military routines, etc.

Now Coriantumr, being
from the city of Zarahemla, was well familiar with its location and position
among the Nephite people as their capitol, but also knew that it was not well
guarded and being in the “heart of their lands,” he knew the Nephites did not
think it could or would be attacked. Being an intelligent man, he believed he
could capture Zarahemla if he moved quickly, arriving in the Land of Zarahemla
and approach the city with speed, before the Nephites could muster a defense
against his unusual approach and point of attack. Always in the past,
the Lamanites, whose departure point was the Land of Nephi, and most likely the
city of Nephi, which was along the eastern coastal region, had attacked
northward across the narrow strip of wilderness into the lands east of the Land
of Zarahemla, and therefore east of the Sidon River, along the coastal cities
of Moroni, Lehi, Morianton, and on occasion, as far north as Mulek. As an example, upon
leaving Cuzco valley, i.e., the City of Nephi, they would have crossed the
valley to the north, through the narrow valley east of Sacsahuaman (passing
the hill Ammon likely camped upon) and headed northward to Huayllarcocha, then
to Puca Pucara, entering the gorge east of Tambomachay and skirted the foothills
along the edge of the valley, then turned northeast toward Quesermayo to the
pass through Ccochahuasi to Llaquepasta, then through the gorge to Pisac and
the Sacred Valley. From there they followed the Urubamba River northwest to
Lamay, Calca, Huayllabamba, Yucay, and on to Ollantaytambo, then following the
Urubamba entered the narrow strip of wilderness where the river cuts through on
up to Santa Maria, crossed behind the headwaters of the Sidon River and headed
down through Ayacucho and the Pass at Huancayelica into the Land of
Zarahemla—from there they would have had at least three approaches to the City
of Zarahemla, either curving westward, down in a loop through the canyon to
Chacamarca and westward to Huayllampi, Pacaran and followed the Cañete River
gorge down into the valley.

As can be seen from these photos, with tall mountains on either side, passage
through from the east to west is dependent upon the directon of gorges, narrow valleys and passes
that wind their way through the cordilleras toward the coast. Movement in any other direction than provided by these passes and gorges would literally be impossible

The second would be
to move northward up the gorge to San Pedro de Pilas to Viscas then down to
Calango and the coast before turning north. Or the third would have been up
through Huancayo through the pass and down to Quirpa to Chontay, curving around
and downward to Cienequilla and through the Pass and into the green Lurin
Valley along the Lurin River that, though narrow, extends down to the shoreline.However, when
Coriantumr mapped his approach to Zarahemla he did not take one of these routes normal routes
through the Land of Zarahemla, but rather, he went a completely different way, and headed west while still in the Land of Nephi, across the to the south of the narrow strip of wilderness, to the west coastal region and then north up through the sixty-mile-long
narrow shoreline passage that does not widen until it reaches the Lurin Valley,
which opens along the coast from just north of Chincha Alta, which is reached
going southwest from Huancavelica, picking up the coast and heading north into
the Lurin Valley a short distance south of Pachacamac or Zarahemla. This is
basically the same route that the present Peru Highway 1 takes (called Carretera Panamericana Sur today South
of central Lima) along the coast of Peru.

The current Pan American Highway heading northward along the
coast approaching this sixty-mile passage. Note the hills on the right that
separate the road from the approaching coastal beaches, completely hiding
Coriantumr’s army

At this point, the
coastal route is hidden behind a series of large hills that run northward,
blocking off view from the north all the way from about Cerro Azul, through to
the Lurin Valley, much of this coast today is filled with tourist beaches—but
in the days of Coriantumr, this area along the coast was behind a series of
hills that screen off all view of his approaching army. This is why Coriantumr
was able to reach the watch at the city gates unobserved and able to cut down
the guard and enter the city almost unnoticed. All the way north along the
sixty-mile passage Coriantumr and his army would have been invisible to anyone
in the Land of Zarahemla until they reached the Lurin Valley where it widened—however,
this valley is a narrow area along the coast and by the time Coriantumr entered
it, there would have been no time for the defenses of Zarahemla to have reacted
sufficient to have countered his vast army.

The eastern end of the Lurin Valley. Top:
Beyond the bend is the eastern pass into the valley; Bottom: Showing how an army on
foot is going to travel where the terrain allows

The Lurin valley was extremely important, being the southern end of a
large valley area (Lima) that was heavily settled in Nephite times, with Lurin
valley itself housing dozens of pre-Columbian separate development sites, and
numerous others up the coast. In Lima, ancient sites have recently been uncovered that
were in the center of the city, once built over, now being preserved. Later,
the area was the road to Cuzco, and the Inca used the coastal road to attack and
defeat several southern cultures.This shoreline passage does not widen until it reaches the Lurin
Valley. Until Coriantumr, this coastal corridor protected Zarahemla from any
southern attack. In fact, Moroni was angry at one time thinking the people of
Zarahemla felt they need not support his army because they were “in the heart of our country
and ye are surrounded by security” (Alma 60:19). He went on to say “will ye sit
in idleness while ye are surrounded with thousands of those, yea, and tens of
thousands, who do also sit in idleness, while there are thousands round about
in the borders of the land who are falling by the sword, yea, wounded and
bleeding,” suggesting that those at Zarahemla felt very secure in their
location. After all, they had the entire Land of Zarahemla to the east, the
narrow strip of wilderness that was nearly impassable to the south, and the
ocean to the west with the rest of the Nephite controlled lands to the east and
north. In addition, it had always been the habit of the Lamanites to attack
either in the far east, along the Sea East coastal plain, or along the border
to the southeast. This, of course, is what Coriantumr, as a defector from
Zarahemla, well understood and why he chose to attack up the west coastal plain
coming into the Nephite lands through the narrow sixty-mile-long passage along
the coast.(See the next post, “Pachacamac: The City of
Zarahemla – Part V,” to see where Coriantumr went after capturing the city of
Zarahemla as he traveled up the center of the land)